Firewood + a little work =

[mhambi]

A nice little Christmas gift!

After making an aspen log bed out of some of last seasons firewood, I decided on something a little easier this year...

I took some Rocky Mountain Juniper I had cut and made a simple box as a Christmas gift. Too bad I'm not a cigar smoker... this wood would make a great humidor.

Anyway here it is. Not too bad for not having a planer/joiner and other 'nice' shop tools...

The inside is unfinished and smells very 'cedar-y'. Sorry about the dark pics... doesn't show off how purple/red this wood really is. I'll have to try and get some daylight pics.

And the good news is, if I run out of firewood I can still toss this in the old stove... :supergrin:

 

[WellSeasoned]

That looks really cool. Nice work.

 

[smokinj]

Very nice piece!

 

[firefighterjake]

Absolutely beautiful . . . very, very nice.

 

[Eatonpcat]

Nice...You should grow an Amish beard, get some suspenders and sell those!!

 

[lukem]

No planer or joiner? Wow, that's really good then. Getting good seams is hard to do with the "proper" tools. You must have some patience.

The grain and color remind me of a massive Japanese Yew bush in our yard when we moved into this house. The bush was ugly as sin, but the wood was beautiful....looked just like that when I cut the stump.

 

[GAMMA RAY]

That is beautiful Mhambi.....I would love one of those for a jewelry box....
Nice work!

 

[woodchip]

Very nice work, really neat grain there.

At least you could burn the offcuts...... ;-)

 

[ironworker]

Very nice, what did you use to join it together.

 

[Pallet Pete]

Good work that looks sweet now you can make them give them to me and I can sell them for 10 times what they are worth and give you one percent :lol: ;-)

Thats a joke by the way !
Pete

 

[Backwoods Savage]

That is beautiful Mhambi.....I would love one of those for a jewelry box....
Nice work!

But it would have to be much, much larger!


Excellent work.

 

[fishingpol]

Re-purposing firewood-great job!

 

[begreen]

That is beautiful. It must smell great. I love the smell of juniper. I like to drink it on occasion too. :coolsmirk:

 

[mhambi]

Thanks all!

The process I went through was as follows:

Use chainsaw to cut 2" or so slabs
Use table saw to cut to square and then to size. Throw a bunch out.
Find the 'cleanest and squarest' pieces and sand with the orbital sander. See how they fit. Throw a bunch out.
Glue and clamp into large pieces (front/back, sides, lid, bottom), and then cut to size
Glue and clamp box together. Add a couple of hidden finish nails (I' wasn't doing biscuits or anything so I thought this would help)
Cheat and add a little wood filler to a few places.
Cut out hinge areas
Final sand then finish with Deft lacquer
Attach hinges and then polish.

 

[KevinK]

...very nice, ...looks a lot like cedar, ...but bery purplish